Conservative U.S. Christian “family values” and religious organizations are setting up fronts in Africa to fight for anti-gay and anti-abortion legislation to promote their fundamentalist convictions, according to a report by the progressive think tank Political Research Associates.

A national gay rights group says that Ventura County prosecutors should do the “just and merciful thing” and reach a plea deal with Brandon McInerney for fatally shooting a gay middle-school student rather than trying him a second time.

This week, communities in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Maryland have organized candlelight vigils to mourn the loss of Dr. Gaurav Gopalan, a 35-year-old gay South Asian aeronautics engineer and theater artist who was murdered near his home in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C., on Sept. 10, 2011.